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California: Regulators are allowing methyl bromide to be used to fumigate certified organic strawberry seedlings, while they ignore a chemical-free al

Emily

Emily

Editor, Senior Moderator
Methyl bromide might be better than some other chemicals as far as leaving residue, but the danger to farm workers and the ozone layer still exists.

Alternatives to methyl bromide exist
Can organic strawberries be grown without the use of methyl bromide or other toxic fumigants?
Yes, says James Rickert, nursery manager for Prather Ranch, who has successfully done it. From 2005 to 2009, Rickert was California?s first and only commercial grower of organic strawberry seedlings. He used a crop rotation system to minimize the risk of soil-borne diseases infecting the plants, rotating two million plants on eight acres grazed by organically-raised cattle. He sold the plants for $100 per thousand, or $8 more than the price of conventional plants.
Rickert could have satisfied at least 50 percent of the demand for organic strawberry seedlings in California. Yet organic regulators still accepted the idea that organic seedlings weren?t ?commercially available,? so few organic growers bought Rickert?s plants. Even as organic strawberry production tripled, large quantities of Rickert?s plants went unsold. In 2009, he slashed his prices. He still couldn?t move his inventory. Finally, in February 2010, Rickert went out of business. Ironically, after he had closed, in March 2010, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation chose to honor him for the organic methods he had applied to his nursery. It was too late. Hundreds of thousands of organically-grown seedlings went to waste.
As Rickert puts it, "If some random cowboy could figure it out, then big companies could figure it out."
So what?s stopping Driscoll's from growing authentically organic strawberry plants?
Lack of pressure by regulators, including the CCOF and the NOP.
- See more at: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865...public/?action_KEY=16197#sthash.7kyHSAmm.dpuf
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